For some, architecture begins (and ends) with space itself. From this point of view, the value of a design may be found in the way in which formal structures are employed to demarcate space with a nuanced ambiguity, and in an attention to how space and form are perceived on an elemental level. But if we are to look for a point of departure in an understanding of space itself, how do we define space? The particular qualities and metrics we marshal in the service of answering this question forms what we might call the "essential vocabulary" of architecture, a position that seeks for architecture to be liberated from external references.

This project adopts this formal point of departure, and begins with an analysis of a particular form of digitally scripted photo panorama. Working through two-dimensional collage media, students identify formal and spatial characteristics formed within the structure of a constructed panorama image, and distill these structural characteristics into an abstract language. Value in this collage is found less in how well it adheres to the "truth" of its origin (the given image), and more in the internal structural and compositional relationships found in the abstract language that are developed. In other words, while originating in a representation of the visible world, the formal structural logic of each composition stands on its own in the context of the abstract space of the collage.

These abstract collages will form the basis of an iterative exploration that moves through orthographic projection, folded paper models, negative massing models, and finally arrives at a design proposal responsive to the specific conditions of our site and program. While 'projected' into the ideal spaces of model and drawing, and finally through these into the physical space of the site, this departure posits that the abstract formal logic remains paramount.